Simon Boyle (Eden Rising)
Break (AOTL) - Childish Gambino | Status=Deceased | Death=Shot in the head execution-style by Papadakis | Age=34 | Family=''Séverine Bangalter'' (ex-girlfriend) Victor Vanbrooke (rival) | Place=London, England | Creator=SRHerrera | Actor=Ashley Walters }} Simon Boyle was a main character in Eden Rising. Simon was a stylishly handsome, if beyond tired and rugged, photo-journalist-in-a-previous-life. Extremely outspoken, with incredible investigative skills, Simon can be a precious ally but his mouth has gotten him into trouble on quite a few occasions. He was once romantically involved with Eden's original Director of operations, Séverine. After her capture, Ash organized a council of Directors to balance out leadership, consisting of himself, Simon, Gwen, and Manila. His own personal need to get a good story leads him to an unhealthy obsession with figuring out Victor Vanbrooke's mysterious past, that eventually leads to a violent, and nearly fatal, conclusion. Ashamed of what he almost did, Simon exiles himself from Eden and moves on to find the next great story. He returns home, to London, and learns of the corruption Papadakis is encouraging under her leadership of the United Nations. He learns that his captured lover Séverine is being held as Papadakis's personal prisoner and witnesses the murder of Oliver Kim, causing him to spark a rebellion and try to bring a better form of leadership to the people. He enlists the help of his former comrades at Eden, making them aware of Séverine's capture and the level of depravity in the city streets. He eventually gets them into the city limits, where they peacefully protest and get the people aware of Papadakis's doings. Simon frees Séverine, but the protesters are not welcomed and violence ensues. Their reunion is short, because as they flee, Séverine is fatally shot. Knowing that he is responsible for all of this, an enraged Papadakis captures Simon and executes him publicly as a message to the people. His murder kick-starts the war between Eden and the United Nations and reveals Papadakis's true face to the public. Personality Simon has always been popular; his cheerful demeanor, excellent work ethic and success in life have always brought him nothing but good fortune. A charming and outspoken coprolalomaniac, Simon can sometimes come off as rude or insensitive as his cavalier attitude causes him to be loud and opinionated, but he is only that way because he cares very deeply about whatever the situation may be. Simon can often take things too personally--and as much as he'd hate to admit it--he wears his emotions on his sleeve, as they have been toyed with throughout his life and he secretly hopes that further exposure to this cold world will render him careless and as a result, without pain. History Pre-series= Simon was a star photo-journalist for a paper called The Millennium in London. After suffering a hand injury in Iraq, Simon became relegated to desk work. He was still a brilliant writer, though, allowing his adventurous archaeologist girlfriend Séverine to do the field work for him. They worked as a team; she gathered the photographs and did the field reporting, while he typed up her findings and made the couple money. This teamwork worked for a while. However, when Sev got knee-deep into an investigation on a mysterious virus making its way around China, and slowly around the globe, things got messy. Simon joined Séverine as she returned to London, and they flew to Normandy, France, to join her parents at the massive eco-hotel they were building. The United Nations approached them to sponsor the creation of this eco-hotel into a sanctuary. Simon stayed in Eden since its inception. However, as Séverine got wrapped up into the power among other issues, their relationship faltered and they eventually split. |-|Season 3= Declan O'Day approached Simon for help on tracking down the missing Manila Shea, fearing a conspiracy in Ed MacPherson's Touch Star security organization, of which Manila was a part of. Simon believed Declan's claims, but needed solid evidence to begin an investigation. Simon was presented with evidence when Declan found a note in Manila's garage, which read: "I WAS WARNED. IT WAS ALL MACPHERSON." Simon began entangled into this investigation, his first on the field investigation in years. He never once thought the post-apocalyptic landscape would bring along new opportunities. He interviewed Ed's wife Chandra, to which she became antsy. In the midst of Manila's recovery, Séverine was shot by a rampaging maniac, causing Simon to go by her side again. Simon asked Séverine if she was willing to give their relationship another try; he was willing to, and she seemed willing as well. They kissed. However, The Serpent, a pirate from another territory, threatened an attack on Eden if the people there did not give him Séverine, and despite Simon's protests, Séverine left in order to protect not just Simon but the rest of her people too. Angered by her sacrifice, Simon blamed Ash for allowing The Serpent into the dome in the first place. His hostile behavior put him at odds with Victor Vanbrooke in particular. Simon was last seen being put in charge of the group of survivors from outside the dome in Ash's absence. |-|Season 4= Alongside Ash, Gwen and Manila, Simon has become part of a "council" of Directors in an effort to avoid future corruption within Eden's internal structure. While Ash is in charge of the police department, Simon interferes under personal suspicions of Victor Vanbrooke, putting him at odds with both Victor and Ash. On a supply run, Simon is endangered as Victor allows Anton Olko to indulge in his quest for vengeance against a trio of bandits. Simon steps on a mine trap in the catacombs of France, and when Anton and Victor leave him behind to find a heavy object to replace Simon's weight with, a new group makes their way through the catacombs and one of them, Roz, saves him by putting her backpack on the mine. The backpack blows to bits, but it buys Simon enough time to leap away from the mine unharmed. Once they return to Eden and bring Simon's rescuers along, Simon continues his suspicions of Victor while he begins to have feelings for Roz. Roz and Simon eventually decide to get into a relationship, but Simon realizes an animosity between Victor and Roz. As he digs into things, Roz eventually breaks and says that she and Victor were both imprisoned at the same penitentiary, Stonegate Penitentiary. They escaped the prison alongside five others, becoming the "Stonegate Seven". They escaped just before the outbreak, and once things went down, they went their separate ways. Victor threatened Roz, as he felt that her being there would threaten his place in the group. Simon feels compelled to approach Victor, but Roz begs him not to - it will just create problems and she warns that he is "dangerous". Simon's own need to know what's going on gets the best of him, and warns Roz not to go on a supply run alongside Victor, Anton and Winnie. Roz hopes that she can talk Victor down. As they're gone, Simon goes out on his own to find proof. He returns to Eden with a magazine from the date Roz provided of their incarceration, with mugshots of everyone. Simon's own obsession with taking down Victor and potentially blackmailing him blinds him from even seeing his own wrongdoing as he removes any proof of Roz being one of the prisoners, ripping out her mugshot and name. When Victor, Anton and Winnie return from the supply run without Roz, claiming she was eaten by biters and there was nothing any of them could do, Simon snaps and assumes that Victor killed Roz to keep her quiet. He exposes Victor's true identity and provides the proof in the magazine. Simon, as a council member, feels Victor should be punished but Anton provides testimony that Roz's death was accidental and Winnie was not witness to it, as she was separated from the group at the time but says that Victor was not acting strangely or irrationally after he and Anton claimed that Roz was overrun by biters. Without any concrete proof or witnesses to support Simon's theory that Roz was murdered, Ash, Manila and Gwen deny his request to go forward with anything against Victor. They learned from their mistakes in dealing with the last convict they lived alongside, and say that Victor has done nothing but contribute positively to the community so his transgressions in the past should not dictate, or destroy, his future. Angry and convinced of his gut feeling, Simon takes matters into his own hands and beats Victor senseless. Realizing what he's done, Simon stops his beating of Victor. He is arrested and put aside. He is scolded by Gwen for creating controversy among the leadership, which is exactly what the job of the council was to avoid. She trusted him and now his trust is destroyed. Victor says that he doesn't want Simon imprisoned, he just wants to speak with him. The two reach an understanding as Victor tells Simon straight-up that he didn't kill Roz. Simon wants to know what happened - Victor begins explaining the details of Roz's demise, but Simon interrupts. He just wants to know why Victor was put in prison. Victor divulges that his wife was a schoolteacher who slept with a high school student. She was imprisoned and it destroyed Victor from the inside out, so he tracked down the kid and beat him senseless. He was arrested. A twisted form of fate put the kid's sister in the same prison as him and they actually befriended each other. Victor thinks there's a reason for all of this - he thinks he's being punished. He thanks Simon for what he's done, and says that because he refuses to press any "charges", Simon is free to go. Simon decides that he has let down his people and steps down as a council member, deciding to leave the dome and look for the next "big story". His urge to investigate and find truths has led him to try and destroy another man's life - he wants something that will actually matter, and decides to head to London. After leaving the dome, Simon returns to London, his birthplace, and meets up with Papadakis, the organization's leader. He urges her to help the survivors still living in the bio-dome and free his ex-girlfriend Séverine Bangalter, and she promises to sit down with him, making him an appointment. |-|Season 5= In season 5, Simon would have had that appointment with Papadakis, and seen that Oliver Kim has made his way to London. Recognizing the kid from being at Eden, Simon begins to investigate what's going on there, and discovers a link between Papadakis and Oliver's pasts - She rescued him at a young age and manipulated and took advantage of the young man, training him to be her personal killer. He, in turn, helped the weak Papadakis get into power. Simon proves to be a nuisance to the United Nations, constantly attempting to figure out what's going on in the corrupted leadership and free his lover, Séverine. He discovers that Papadakis has a sick obsession for Séverine and is holding her in her own apartment as a personal prisoner, and not a government one. He tries to free her and even enlists Oliver's help, trying to manipulate the young man's personal need to be wanted by someone to get him to help. Oliver wants to redeem himself for his mistakes in the past, and Simon offers him the opportunity to make it up to the people of Eden by bringing them their leader back. They head in together, but Oliver is discovered snooping in Papadakis' apartment while Simon hides. He witnesses Papadakis snap and murder Oliver in cold-blood, filming the event, and he flees the apartment successfully. Simon essentially begins an uprising in London, recruiting Gio Durant and his gang, The Rippers. The footage of Papadakis murdering Oliver is destroyed by Wolf, who infiltrates his former gang and does what he needs to do to protect his boss's reputation, setting Simon's plans back substantially. Simon broadcasts a message to the leaders of Eden, explaining the situation here and suggests they wage war against the U.N. and try to bring stability back to Europe. Papadakis, who is tracking all communications heading in and out of the city, angrily tries to track down the source of the recording but Simon manages to escape Wolf's attempts at assassinating him. Near the season's end, Simon enlists help from the fearful Emily Astrange, who has witnessed and heard awful things about Papadakis' leadership. Simon makes her his inside man. She uses her high-valued security presence to cut out all feed throughout the city, allowing Ash to lead a team of people through the city undetected. They decide to, under Dwight Brash's suggestion, peacefully protest the U.N. and ask for Papadakis' removal. The peaceful protest goes wrong as Papadakis inserts Wolf into the crowd disguised as one of the protesters. He throws a punch at one of the soldiers on the ground, giving them an excuse to fire upon the protesters. People lose their lives and Simon is devastated. He frees Séverine from Papadakis' apartment during the confusion, but their reunion is short-lived. As they escape into the streets of London, Séverine is struck by stray gunfire and killed. Papadakis sees this, having tracked them down. Devastated, Simon and Papadakis blame each other for her death. Her guards contain Simon and bring him front and center in front of the arrested people who have protested. Papadakis, no longer afraid to get her hands dirty and prove her true face, publicly executes Simon herself with a gunshot to the head. Simon's attempt at redemption doesn't go unnoticed, and Victor finds Simon's body in the streets and pays respect to him by shutting his eyes. Killed Victims *Numerous counts of infected Trivia *Simon would have been the tenth main character to die. *Initially a one-off character only featured in the flashbacks of "Jiang Shi", he made a good enough impression on showrunner Johno1995 to be carried into the present-day storylines and eventually become a regular character. *The name "Simon" is Hebrew for "he has heard", or "the listener", which is fitting as Simon's role of a photo journalist who must do a lot of listening. Appearances Category:Eden Rising Characters Category:Characters